I am at my wits end with ST handbuff CA decks, what do I do?

[Guest 4273762]

I am at my wits end with ST handbuff CA decks, what do I do?

Can I just start of by saying I messed up big time by milling all my cards when I got the game to create a structured deck, I didn't know how stupid it was at the time, but alas I mucked up and ended up with a Nilfgard deck. It was when Slave Driver was first released so I copied a GwentDB deck from there, needless to say once I reached higher ranks it wasn't very viable and the create mechanic was horrible, so I switched to Nilfgard spies and it was pretty good until they got nerfed just recently. Now with my very limited options I have had to resort to Voorhis reveal, but not your everyday reveal.

Now that you are aware of my idiocy let me get the dilemna at hand, ironically handbuff elf decks with card advantage. I wander around the 3600 rank on a regular season and 90% of my opponents are variants of Swims elf deck with the Brouver/Cleaver combo. I just can't for the life of me keep up with the tempo of that deck, what with the elf spamming and Cleaver point swing, even though my Voorhis is a 20 point play most games I just get out pointed with fast tempo elf spam. And if by some chance or skill I manage to win the first round or even keep up with my opponent I have to either choose between winning the first round with a card disadvantage in the third or lose on equal and let my opponent control the rest of the game. My own Cantarella can't counter the card advantage because I am just giving him more points, Cantarella for Yaevin then out comes Cleaver and suddenly I cant catch up to points in one turn and I either lose on equal or go a card down either way. And even if by some uncanny luck I win in round 1 no CA loss they just wardancer in round 2 anyway. I feel like I have to run a similar spam engine style deck with a CA spie to counter this but I can't, I have only one deck. And the only engine deck I can make, spies, is dead. I don't want to run elves myself and even if I wanted to I couldn't, am I just screwed until either I can make a different faction deck or they do something about Cleaver/Wardancer?

I can't post a screen since I'm on PS4 sorry but here is my deck if anyone is wondering, it's not the greatest but with my stupid choices these are the best I could do. No hate for Slave Driver please, It's literally a filler card for points, Mongonel kept getting removed too easily and wasn't great in third rounds.

Voorhis
Stefan Skellen
Dandelion Poet
Regis
Letho of Gulet
Cantarella
Sweers
Peter
Vanhemar
Last Wish
Mandrake
Alchemist x3
Daerlan x3
Golem x3
Viicovaro Medic x2
Slave Driver x2
Assasin x2

If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[4RM3D]

Depending on how big your collection is, you can also choose to create a new account. Regardless, NG does have some viable decks. The best one is Alchemy. There are some variations, but most run the same cards with Calveit + Mandrake to be resurrected in the final round. Some players are experimenting with Stefan + Ihuarraquax. I think the cheapest and fastest way for you is trying to convert to an Alchemy archetype.

Example of a new Alchemy deck: https://www.gwentdb.com/decks/44505-...my-ihuarraquax
And an example of an old one: https://www.gwentdb.com/decks/44523-alchemy

 

[Rawls]

Yeah Alchemy is Nilfgaards strongest deck currently so far as I can tell.

 

[W12]

You can try Ocvist to return CA. Nobody expect him in the middle of 2 round (of course, you should lure out removal with you engines). Worked well for me around 4k last season (but not NG, armor NR)

 

[devivre]

I agree, Alchemy NG is the best NG archetype right now and probably the only NG deck that can be considered tier 1 at the moment. Of course that would mean building a very different deck.


You should be able to get far with Reveal NG though. Here are a few suggestions:

Fire Scorpions are a good addition to get more value from revealing cards. After revealing them you can conceil and reuse them with cards like Henry Var Attre or Master of Disguise (although both cards are not always that amazing and sometimes tricky to use).

Personally I prefer using Yennefer Enchantress in reveal decks, in combination with Last Wish and also Scorch. It gives you more flexibility. I think she's at least better than Dandelion.

You can use Cantarella in combination with Venendal Elite, that way you create a 1 strength spy.

 

[Beernchips]

Problem with NG reveal is most of your power will come from mangonel + reveals. It can easily win in R1 but you will need a back up plan for R3. I have seen people using villen + scorch + myrgra to clear up board in R3 and it was quite effective

 

[AVK1995]

You can't defeat Broover CA swap elves with Reveal, consistently at least. Simple as that. You can't win round 1 against broover with reveal because they will remove all your mangonels easily. You simply cannot win a long round 3 against broover with reveal as they usually do not align units for scorch and even if they do, its absolutely not enough. Reveal relies on its engines to produce high tempo and hence it is inherently bad in Gwent currently. Currently good decks are ones that can produce 12+ points with each bronze unconditionally. This is why broover elves and Alchemy are T1.

Gwent is quite liberal with its rewards and transforming that deck to a budget version of alchemy shouldn't be too hard if you've already got some of the bronzes from kegs. A budget version of alchemy can use many of the golds and silvers that you've listed - Stefan, Dandelion, canteralla, vanhemar (weather is popular because of imlerith:sabbath decks), mandrake, etc. can all be part of a good alchemy deck.

Good luck!

 

[Khreygond]

You can't defeat Broover CA swap elves with Reveal, consistently at least. Simple as that.

Wrong. You just can't do so with a simple Reveal deck. But make it mixed Reveal - Mill, and the Brouver hyperthinning deck is in for a rude awakening

I run a deck with Tibor, Albrich, Avallac'h, Shilard and Decoy for Albrich which is very effective against swap elves, but it will lose badly to Alchemy (obviously) and Harald Axemen so I just play with it on casual